I feel like I need to find people to hold up for my children and say: This is the kind of person I hope you are, the kind of men and women I hope you will grow up to be. Right now, that seems like a tall order.

As people, we do things sometimes that are not, strictly speaking, necessary. We do things. We rise to challenges. Though we are not all capable of the heroism of our first responders, we can all find something great within ourselves.